By ANGELA K. BROWN
Associated Press Writer
FORT WORTH, Texas- Driving through north Texas on his way home from visiting his sister, architect Eric Hammock seemed fine when he called his wife.
But a few hours later, he was dead.
After trespassing onto a company’s private property, the 43-year-old got into a scuffle with a security guard who shocked him with a Taser gun and placed him in handcuffs, police say. Hammock struggled to breathe and died an hour later.
A county medical examiner said Hammock’s April death was from cocaine intoxication but that the stun gun may have played a role because he “collapsed within a very, very short time after being tased.” Hammock was shocked between three and six times.
“They overdid it,” said his wife Kathi Hammock, who is suing the gun’s manufacturer, Arizona-based Taser International. “I don’t care what he did. He didn’t deserve the death penalty.”
Statistics on Taser-related deaths vary. The American Civil Liberties Union reports more than 130 deaths in the U.S., while Amnesty International reports more than 120 deaths in the U.S. and Canada _ both figures since June 2001. The groups want Taser use suspended until studies are done on how the device affects people on drugs or with heart conditions.
Taser International, the primary manufacturer of electric stun guns, did not return several calls seeking comment. The company said in a May interview with The Associated Press that its product is safe, based on independent studies, and in only about 10 percent of deaths cited by Amnesty International did medical examiners list Tasers as a contributing factor.
The company also contends Tasers have saved more than 6,000 lives _ suspects who otherwise might have been fatally shot by police.
The Securities and Exchange Commission and the Arizona attorney general have said they are examining Taser’s safety claims. Amnesty International and the ACLU say studies cited by the company were done on healthy people and only found no significant heart effects immediately after a shock. In one study, Taser’s top medical officer was a consultant.
A Taser shoots two streams of electricity that deliver a 50,000-volt jolt for 5 seconds, temporarily immobilizing a person by over-stimulating the nervous system and causing muscles to lock up. Officers can use the device from 15-35 feet (4.5-10.5 meters) away from a suspect.
A Taser also can be used like cattle prods, affecting only the muscles in the area where it touches someone’s skin. However, because a Taser is not a firearm, it is not regulated by the government.
About 100,000 people own a Taser, and about 7,300 law enforcement agencies and military installations worldwide use the stun guns, according to the company.
The International Association of Chiefs of Police urges officers to use Tasers only to subdue suspects who are violent or about to injure someone; not to use it on a handcuffed person unless he is “overtly assaultive"; to use it the least number of times; and to seek medical attention for anyone who has been shocked.
“We’re not saying pull them off the streets, by any means,” said Albert Arena, a project manager for the 20,000-member association based in Alexandria, Virginia. “You want to have an option where you don’t have to kill somebody to subdue them. In the right situation, it’s the appropriate tool.”
In May, a murder suspect perched atop an 18-story crane in Atlanta for two days was brought down safely after being shocked with a Taser. Earlier this year a Miami-Dade grand jury recommended that police use Tasers more often as an alternative to guns.
But concerns have led some law enforcement agencies to suspend Taser use. Last week the mayor of Birmingham, Alabama, ordered local authorities to stop using the devices after a jail inmate was found dead in his cell more than 12 hours after corrections officers used the gun to subdue him.
Tarrant County Medical Examiner Nizam Peerwani said he plans to meet with Fort Worth police soon to discuss his findings in Hammock’s death. He said people who take stimulant drugs or are highly agitated because of psychological problems are already more likely to die from heart problems _ so a Taser’s effect on these people should be carefully considered.
Most people, like Trevor Goodchild, 22, survive Taser shocks, but some suffer injuries.
In February, Goodchild was playing his guitar on Austin’s Sixth Street, a well-known strip known for its live music clubs, when several police officers approached him and said he needed a permit. When he asked which law he had broken, they grabbed his guitar and slammed him to the ground, splitting open his cheek, he said.
Goodchild said he never cursed or resisted arrest, but yelled “Rodney King!” _ referring to the black motorist beaten by Los Angeles police officers in 1991. Austin officers then shocked Goodchild with a Taser at least seven times, plus two times after he was handcuffed, he said. His back and left arm were covered with up to 20 bloody burn holes the size of the end of a pencil, he said.
Austin police said they didn’t know how many times Goodchild was shocked but that he fought with them before the stun gun was used. Goodchild was sentenced to several hours of community service after being convicted of blocking a sidewalk; his resisting arrest case is pending.
“I didn’t do anything to provoke this,” said Goodchild. “It’s the most profound pain I’ve ever felt in my life. It’s complete submission. You can’t move. You can’t even blink.”
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On the Net:
Taser International: https://www.taser.com